Road Trip Weather

About an hour out of Vegas on our drive home, we received a phone call about flooding in St. George and a blizzard in Beaver. Tyler and I, remembering I drive down, chuckled because it had already been flooding up around St George and we'd figured it would just be more of the same.Yet, as we got up to Mesquite, NV we noticed more muddy water in and around the town than we'd seen on our drive out just 2 days before.Here are a number of pictures we took while driving. We also pulled off I-15 to snap a few pictures of the Virigin River. This first one I took to put some of the waterfalls in the background and also show the resulting flow. Below, you get an intimate look at the water that frothed below us. Where we stood, not more than 3' away from the water, it was clear that the banks of the river were beginning to erode away. Yikes!
Looking out the window at one point in St. George, both sides of the car seemed surrounded by water. When we got home, I saw that same stretch of highway on the news and it was indeed surrounded by water.Later, we started to see snow, though the roads were pretty clear most of the drive. In Nephi, we stopped to get gas. The gas station had about 8" of snow and luckily they had kept on top of things and plowed it enough so we could stop and refuel. I took this image of a hillside that reportedly had up to two foot depths of snow just up from where we were.

Vegas Wedding Bells

Tyler and I were delighted to attend Ethan & Becca's wedding held in Las Vegas this past Monday. Though Vegas leaves much to be desired in regards to traffic, costs and such, it was a magnificant experience. Below you can see the happy couple as Becca talks on the phone.I can now say that I've seen "first hand" and "up close" many of the world famous Las Vegas sites. Here's a view of our hotel room. We were on the 23rd floor in the Excalibur.The rest of the pictures were taken in and around the Luxor. Here's one of Mom & Dad. All these indoor shots were taken without a tripod. I had limited options: either stand still or set my camera down and hope the subject stood still enough as the flash ruined any of the images with too much directional light.My dad has the camera with the pictures I took of the happy couple while dressed in their wedding ceremony clothing. One of the traditions they used was a tradition from Messianic Judaism, that of lighting a unity candle. Truly, it was a beautiful ceremony. To the happy couple, I simple offer this wish: mazel tov!

A painted Dawn

I could feel dawn compelling me to rise, so I arose early this morning.

Reflected on every willing surface, I did witness this glorious display of light.
Proudly, the sun displayed her painted skies, and I did partake.

All That Jazz

Living in Utah has had its impact on me. I didn’t grow up with TV or even caring about professional or college sports, TV shows…yeah, all that stuff didn’t matter to me. Strangely enough, the LDS capital of the world changed all of that for me. I follow NCIS, CSI, Chase, American Idol… a few others too. I’ve also (gasp) started to watch college and pro sports with my husband.

Along with that, I have been to a total of 3 Jazz games since moving to Utah. I learned who Kyle Korver was and why everyone was always talking about Boozer, AK 47, and my favorite: Deron Williams.

But, what really mattered to me was the fact that this was a basketball team named for the best kind of music there is. And they didn’t seem to have much to do with true groove of music… that is, until this season. They changed their logo and I’m proud to say, I finally caved in and bought a Jazz hoodie.

More importantly, for a work party, we went to see the Utah Jazz take down the Bucks. My nephew, Johnathan and niece Hannah got their first taste of the NBA and were “jazz”ed about it. Sorry, but I’m punny like that sometimes. Notice Johnathan's lips are blue from the blue cotton candy. Yum!

So, go D Will and go Jazz!